Petrit Latifi

Short version:

Haxhi Mani (Golem, 1913 – Rrjoll, 8 April 1963) was a soldier, an activist of the anti-fascist resistance with the Albanian National Liberation Army, later a colonel of the People’s Army and a deputy for the Mbishkodra area in the People’s Assembly. After opposing the collectivization of cattle in the northern areas, his arrest was rumored and after he managed to hide in a cave in Rrjoll, he was pursued and killed by being shot with an artillery cannon.

He was born in 1913 in Golem, the son of Hajdar Mani, his father had been an elder kanun and had divided elders and reconciled blood feuds from his region to Kosovo and had participated in the Koplik war. Although he was orphaned young, with the death of his father in 1928, he grew up and was formed with patriotic traditions, with the qualities of honesty and loyalty, bravery and courage to tell the truth, and above all, with a sense of respect and non-contempt for those who suffer.

In 1932-1933 he completed a military course in Turkey, but returned to Shkodra. At the beginning of World War II he attempted to go to some family friends in Istanbul, but after staying a few months in Ulcinj, he returned to his homeland. He became active in the national liberation movement and in 1942 he went to the partisan mountains, forming the partisan detachment of Nesshkodra, which operated in the Pentar and Dajç area.

He took an active part in the war against the invaders and immediately after the liberation of the country he was activated in military duties. He was capable and dedicated to giving and doing everything for the good of the country and the poor people.

A soldier with the rank of colonel, he was a deputy for the Mbishkodra area in the People’s Assembly from the liberation of Albania until April 8, 1963, when he was killed by artillery fire, one day before his 50th birthday.

Longer more detailed version:

The unknown and painful story of Colonel Haxhi Hajdar Mani, former commander of the first partisan detachment of the Shkodra District, deputy for the Highlands in the People’s Assembly and Commander of the Border of the Volunteer Forces of the district, who in the early 1960s opposed the collectivization of the remote mountainous areas, considering it hasty.

The debate at the meeting of the Plenum of the Shkodra District Party Committee in the presence of Mehmet Shehu and the summons the next day to Enver Hoxha’s office, where the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces told him: “Comrade Haxhi, we cannot build a road in the Shkodra Highlands, because we are giving Tito the opportunity to attack us through it…”

The State Security plan to publicly arrest the rebel deputy in a plenary session, the escape to the mountains and the search operations in which over 10,000 military and volunteer forces participated and his execution with artillery in the Rrjoll cave, together with the son of his friend, who accompanied him since the day he decided to go on the run.

The decision of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Party in the late 1950s to collectivize agriculture in mountainous areas was not only not well received by the large mass of the peasantry in all regions of the country, but it also encountered strong resistance from many honest communists and leading cadres with high party and state functions of that time, who in various ways raised their voices and did not agree with that drastic measure that was being thrown at the peasantry like a ‘noose around their necks’.

One of those who openly opposed the directive of the senior leadership of the Albanian People’s Party and its creator, Enver Hoxha, was the deputy of the Shkodra Highlands, Colonel Haxhi Hajdar Mani, who since the end of the War had also served as Commander of the Border Forces and the Volunteer Forces of the Shkodra District. In the early 1960s, he raised that problem at the Plenum of the Shkodra District Party, where Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu was a delegate, and later, at one of the plenary sessions of the People’s Assembly.

His discussion fell like a bomb on all the deputies and it is still unknown to this day why the State Security scenario was not realized, to publicly arrest Colonel Haxhi Hajdar in the premises of the People’s Assembly? It is said that one of his close friends, a senior State Security officer (Colonel Mit’hat Zaçe) informed him of his impending arrest at the plenary session and Haxhiu was able to secretly leave Tirana.

Late that night, after changing two cars during the journey, he got off at the entrance to Baçallëk and, via a secondary road, arrived at his house, on the outskirts of the city of Shkodra. Nearly three months later, on March 15, 1963, late at night, at Haxhiu’s house in the village of Golem, several light knocks were heard. With a revolver in his hand, Haxhiu went out himself to open the door.

Behind her, stood his close friend, who only three months earlier had informed him to urgently leave Tirana. After standing there for a few minutes to make sure that there was no movement around the house, the two went inside. It is not known exactly what was discussed that distant evening in March 1963, between two old friends since the time of the War, the senior State Security officer who came from Tirana and the owner of the house.

And to this day, when 57 years have passed since that night, everything has remained shrouded in mystery. But one thing is certain: The next day that night, in the direction of Haxhi Hajdar Mani’s house, there in Golem, Shkodra, three State Security “Jeep” arrived. One of the senior officers who got out of them to look for the colonel, was holding a radiogram from the Ministry of Interior, which read: “Haxhi Hajdari must be caught at all costs.” But he was not there. He had left the house a few minutes after the guest who came from Tirana.

In 1945, he opposed communist terrorism.

The end of the war found Haxhi Hajdari in the city of Shkodra, as a partisan commander with the rank of first captain. During 1945, when several partisan brigades, supported by the forces of the People’s Defense Division (led by Mehmet Shehu) began military purge operations against the anti-communist forces that had grouped in the Shkodra Highlands, Haxhiu publicly opposed the terror that had just begun by them, against the families that had sheltered them. In a military environment, he openly expressed himself, saying: “We did not have words like that.

Those houses sheltered us and kept us fed during the war.” Seeing his attitude towards the events that were taking place at that time in the city of Shkodra and its highlands, such as: beatings, torture, arrests, reprisals, shootings without trials and the internment of large nationalist families, etc., Haxhiu was removed from Shkodra, bringing him to Tirana for a refresher course for officers. After finishing that course, Haxhiu did not return.

He was no longer in the city of Shkodra, but was transferred to the Korça district, appointing him as battalion commander in the village of Bozhigrad.

Deputy in the People’s Assembly

Seeing the great popularity and absolute authority that Haxhi Hajdari enjoyed throughout the Shkodra Highlands, the high leadership of the AKP and the Presidency of the Democratic Front, upon the direct proposal of Enver Hoxha, appointed him on the list of candidates for deputies of the People’s Assembly, in the elections that would be held in the second post-war legislature.

Along with the mandate of deputy, Haxhi was also assigned the duty of Commander of the Volunteer Forces in the entire Shkodra District, being given the rank of major. He served in that position until the end of 1954, at which time he was released, appointing him as the mayor of the locality of Postriba, the famous region where in 1945, the anti-communist uprising took place, which was the first in all of Eastern Europe.

Haxhi Hajdari’s release was a consequence of the positions he held towards the actions of the communist government in his area. He intervened from time to time for the injustices that were being done to the inhabitants of his area by the local government and the Internal Affairs Department, which undertook numerous arrests of the villagers of that region, accusing them of “attempted escape and agitation and propaganda against the people’s government”.

Contrary to the Party’s directive, Haxhiu continued to respect the homes of the nationalist elite throughout Malësia, whom the communist government had declared “kulaks” and “enemies of the people”. From time to time he called and signaled various villagers in those areas, whom the State Security had included in the lists of the Internal Branch to arrest.

In the post of mayor of the locality of Postriba, Haxhiu did not last more than a year, because seeing the great popularity that he continued to enjoy in that province, the senior leadership of the Albanian People’s Army in Tirana and the Ministry of Defense were forced to call and mobilize him again as a soldier. Even appointing him to the same position that he had held for years: as Commander of the Volunteer Forces of the Shkodra District, giving him the rank of lieutenant colonel.

After that, Haxhiu’s authority and figure grew even more, even taking on legendary proportions. At that time, in the city and villages of Shkodra, it was said that when letters and complaints were sent to Enver Hoxha, about various problems that the area was having, he would not open them at all, but would tell his subordinates: “Don’t bring these letters to me, but send them to Haxhi Hajdar, he is the Enver Hoxha of Shkodra”.

Haxhi’s reactions to collectivization

In the late 1950s, when the communist government of Tirana began the collectivization of the remote mountainous areas, many villagers from his electoral area would come and meet Haxhi, complaining about the extremely difficult economic situation they were in and the absolute poverty that was plaguing the Highlands. At that time, the Plenum of the District Party Committee was held in the city of Shkodra, which discussed only the problems of collectivization of the remote mountainous areas.

In that party plenum, which was held in the “Migjeni” Theater (newly inaugurated), participated as delegates from Tirana: Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu and Adil Çarçani. Haxhi Hajdari also discussed at that meeting, who, among other things, also focused on the bad economic situation that prevailed throughout the Shkodra Highlands. He suggested that collectivization should be done on a voluntary basis and not by force and other means of pressure, as had begun to be done.

In his discussion, he touched on the problem of some villagers, who had been unjustly declared kulaks, suggesting that their work be reviewed. Mehmet Shehu and two or three other discussants after him, strongly opposed Haxhiu in relation to what he raised in his discussion. This became the reason for Haxhiu to be summoned to the offices of the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Party in Tirana the following day, where he was personally received by Enver Hoxha.

Discussion in the People’s Assembly

After the conversation that Haxhiu had with Enver Hoxha in his office in the Central Committee of the Albanian People’s Party, he was finally included in the list of highly suspicious people, with whom only the Ministry of the Interior now “had to deal”. Even after that meeting, Haxhiu continued to insist that the time had not yet come for the collectivization of the remote mountainous areas and had given the floor to many well-known houses in his area, that he would raise the matter at the very first session of the People’s Assembly.

Even though he began to feel that the communist government was starting to cool down with him, Haxhiu did not back down from the floor that he had given to the wise men of the Highlands, raising that problem to the highest instances where the word could be heard. Given the attitude that the communist government was maintaining towards him, Haxhiu understood that something bad was expected to happen to him.

Many of his friends and acquaintances left him, and those who once filled his in the full house, were no longer there. Likewise, at that time, some of his closest associates were arrested or exiled, accused of being “enemies of the people”. This also happened to his close friend, Major General Hilmi Seiti, the head of the Internal Branch of the Shkodra District who died under very suspicious circumstances (in May 1960), for whom Haxhiu openly expressed his reservations.

After the mysterious death of General Hilmi Seiti, Feçor Shehu was appointed in his place, as the head of the Internal Branch of the Shkodra District, with whom Haxhiu had deep conflicts many years ago. Even in such circumstances, Haxhiu discussed in the People’s Assembly, raising there the problems that he had given the floor to many men of his electoral area in Malësia.

In his speech, he strictly adhered to what he had said both at the Plenum of the Party Committee in the city of Shkodra, and in the conversation with Enver Hoxha in his office in the Central Committee. Haxhiu’s discussion in the Assembly fell like a ‘bomb’ on all the deputies, who began to discuss with each other what their colleague from Shkodra was saying.

Secretly leaving Tirana

After the end of that plenary session, Haxhiu was not approached by any of his friends who were deputies in the People’s Assembly, leaving him completely alone. That afternoon, one of his close friends, a senior officer in the State Security, sent word to Haxhiu, telling him to find the opportunity to leave Tirana as soon as possible, preferably without telling anyone. (Mit’hat Zaçe, the senior Sigurimi officer and the man who warned Haxhiu to leave Tirana as soon as possible, years later testified that it was a plan to arrest Haxhiu publicly in front of the deputies, a plan that even today it is not known why it was not carried out).

At the suggestion of his friend, that night Haxhiu secretly left Tirana and on the way to Shkodra, he changed cars twice. Once in Lezha and once before reaching the Bacalleku Bridge. That late evening in January 1963, after getting out of a random car at the entrance to the city of Shkodra, Haxhiu set off on foot home. But not on the main road where he usually went.

Who was Haxhiu Haxhiu?

Haxhiu Haxhiu was born in Golem, Shkodra, in 1913, into a family with a good reputation throughout the area.

His father, Hajdar Mani, was known as a wise and brave man, who had reconciled many bloodsheds not only throughout the Highlands, but even as far as Kosovo. With the desire to be like his father and grandfather, who had been well-known military men with ranks on their shoulders, Haxhiu grew up, and in 1938 he completed a course for a reserve officer in Tirana.

After finishing that course, he became an instructor for the training of paramilitaries. Towards the end of 1942, Haxhiu went to the mountains, forming a partisan detachment with villagers from the area above and below Shkodra.

By decision of the Shkodra Communist District, he was appointed commander of that platoon, which also included Ciril Pistoli as commissar, (former Minister of Health in the 1960s), Mëhill Doçi (former chairman of the Shkodra Executive Committee), Qamil Gavoçi, (one of the first communists of Shkodra), Perlat Rexhepi, (“People’s Hero”), Vasil Shanto, (“People’s Hero”) Alush Lohja, etc.

From that time until the end of the war in December 1944, as a platoon commander, Haxhi Hajdari participated in all the battles that that partisan formation fought in that area, thus gaining a great name and popularity among all the inhabitants of those parts.

Even though he was the commander of the first partisan platoon in the entire Shkodra District, Haxhi Hajdari was equally respected by the nationalist leadership of the Shkodra Highlands, which was in open conflict with the communists. Haxhiu respected their loyalty, hospitality and generosity, not asking too much about communist ideas that were little known in those remote areas.

Enver: “Comrade Haxhiu, we cannot build roads in the Highlands, because Tito is attacking us…”

After the discussion that Haxhiu Hajdari had at the Party Plenum of the Shkodra district, where he called the collectivization of the remote mountainous areas premature, he was summoned to Tirana for a meeting with Enver Hoxha. At that meeting, where Mehmet Shehu and Adil Çarçani were also present, Haxhiu Hajdari not only did not change the words he had said the day before at the Party Plenum in Shkodra, but he advanced further in his demands, telling Enver Hoxha that the Highlands needed more investment in roads, water supply, and that its food supply should be given more priority.

After listening to Haxhiu to the end, Enver replied: “We do not have the human resources for this work, because they are engaged in agricultural work. But even if we had, we would not engage them in the construction of new roads, because the opening of roads in this area gives Tito a strategic opportunity to attack and conquer us.”

After Enver’s words, Haxhiu listened to gj: “As a deputy for the Highlands, I assure you that for every eventuality I manage to mobilize under arms every highlander from seven to seventy years old. As for the government, I only provide us with cement and iron for the roads. As for Tito’s attack, I assure you that he cannot pass, except through the lands of Kosovo and Kosovo is with us”.

“Why do you have the power to mobilize the highlanders”, Enveri asked Haxhiu. “Yes, I mobilize them both for work and for war”, Haxhiu replied, not understanding the cunning with which Enveri was asking him.

References and material

Kaloçi, Dashnor (17 janar 2021). “Historia e panjohur e kolonel Haxhi Hajdarit, deputetit që ekzekutuan me artileri në shpellë pas takimit me Enver Hoxhën”. gazeta-shqip.com.

Memorie.Al. https://dosja.al/newsmobile//110038/.